


A Match Made in Heaven

by hongbab



Category: VIXX
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-24 22:46:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 8,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9790517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hongbab/pseuds/hongbab
Summary: “Wait,” Hakyeon says, holding up a hand. “Do you guys know each other?” “I’ve seen him naked,” the guy replies with a small shrug.





	1. I

The sun casts a streak of light on Hongbin’s notebook, illuminating the half-finished sentence he was writing before his pen stopped mid-word, a tiny splotch of ink forming on the paper under the tip of it.

It’s the sun, actually, that caught his attention, shining bright and making the dirt on the glass of the classroom window glisten. Hongbin stares out of the window, a sigh escaping his mouth as he examines the snow that covers the lawn of the campus. It’s not much, patches of grass are visible, but it’s definitely there and will be until the sun makes it melt entirely–and that will take more than a few hours, probably.

Hongbin glances at the basketball court near the neighbouring building and pouts involuntarily. He mentally curses at the janitors for not ridding the court from the snow, but regrets his unspoken words immediately; it’s not the janitors’ fault that it’s the middle of winter. And anyway, it’s too cold for anybody to be playing outside in this weather, no matter how warmly the sun shines.

It wasn’t Hongbin’s intention to spend the last twenty minutes of the lesson staring longingly at the basketball court, but the noises of his classmates packing their stuff makes him snap out of his daze and he realizes that the class is over. He blinks down at his notebook and tries to remember how the last sentence he wrote down continued, but then someone taps him on the shoulder.

“Hongbin-ah.”

Hongbin looks up at Wonshik’s creased face and sleepy eyes.

“Yeah?”

“I kind of… fell asleep. Can I borrow your notes?”

Hongbin hisses and points at his notebook.

“I got distracted a little,” he says.

Wonshik opens his mouth to say something, but then a certain Cha Hakyeon (obnoxiously talkative Media Communications and Critical Practice student aiming for his master’s degree in the field, also Kim Wonshik’s boyfriend in secret) jumps on his back, knocking the wind out of Wonshik as he wraps his arms around Wonshik’s neck, legs dangling in the air.

“Would you please get off me?” Wonshik groans.

“No, I’m tired,” Hakyeon mumbles and puts his head on Wonshik’s back, closing his eyes.

“Hyung, do you still have your second year Visual Critical Theory notes?” Hongbin asks, the idea popping into his mind suddenly.

“Yeah.” Hakyeon says, looking down at Hongbin. “Would you like them?”

“Both of us would.” Wonshik says, reaching under Hakyeon’s knees on his sides to adjust him on his back.

“And what will you give me in return?” Hakyeon cocks an eyebrow at him, a wide grin spreading on his face.

Wonshik watches him from the corner of his eye and there’s some cheesy, telepathic conversation going on between them (probably about something Hongbin would never ever want to imagine them doing), but then Hongbin clears his throat and both of them look at him, a faint pink blush appearing on Hakyeon’s cheeks.

“I’ll buy you three bottles of banana milk.” Hongbin offers. “What do you say?”

“Four and I’ll throw in half a package of page markers.” Hakyeon says. “Pink and yellow; I used up all the blue and green ones.”

“I don’t need your page markers,” Hongbin replies, scrunching up his nose.

“But I need four bottles of banana milk.” Hakyeon shrugs and climbs off Wonshik.

“Oh, come on!” Hongbin whines, standing up to pack up his stuff. “You’ll give it to Wonshik for free, then why do I have to spend money on you?”

“I won’t get it for free either!” Wonshik says indignantly.

“Sure,” Hongbin rolls his eyes, “you’ll pay him in nature.”

“We’re not dating!”

“I told you that–“

Hongbin doesn’t even listen to Wonshik and Hakyeon’s protests. He picks up his bag and makes his way to the door.

“Four and I want them by tomorrow.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Hakyeon asks. “Don’t you want to have lunch with us?”

“No, I’m going to the gym. See you guys later!”


	2. II

When Jaehwan takes refuge on the spectator area of the campus’s gym that afternoon to doodle around while skipping class, he doesn’t expect to see a tiny looking person dribble a basketball towards one of the baskets with surprising dexterity.

Jaehwan’s ears perk up at the sound of the ball repeatedly bouncing off the floor and when he looks at the boy below him, he needs to blink a few. The boy has short legs and small hands, but he leads the ball gracefully and very skilfully. Jaehwan might not be concentrating enough on the winter scenery he’s currently drawing, because the guy keeps distracting him, though unintentionally, because he has yet to show any sign that he has noticed Jaehwan sitting in the third row on the right.

A few minutes later Jaehwan has already given up on his drawing. He watches the one-man match on the court, eyes following the boy rather than the ball. Jaehwan notices that the guy isn’t wearing gym clothes at all; he had been wearing a knitted sweater he already took off and threw on the floor, and is now running up and down in a white shirt buttoned down to the third button and the sleeves rolled up, trousers that look way too tight to be comfortable, and a pair of blue sneakers.

Basketball Boy dribbles the ball to the other side of the court, all the way to the free throw line. He runs a hand through his damp hair, pushing back his bangs that fall back into his eyes right away, and licks his lips. His eyes are focused on the basket on the opposite side of the court, mouth open as he is panting, cheeks red and sweat gleaming on his skin. There’s a knot in Jaehwan’s stomach; it feels like he is watching his favourite team playing and it’s the defining moment in the game–he can feel his blood pressure going through the roof.

The boy curves his back, his left hand steadily bouncing the ball, and then takes a deep breath. He runs towards the basket opposite him and Jaehwan straightens to be able to see the next move. The guy is very fast–he jumps into the air and the next thing Jaehwan sees is that the ball lands next to the boy.

A  _slam dunk_.

From a boy with such tiny legs and hands!

The guy practically rips his sweaty shirt off, wiping his nape with it before he reaches for his sweater on the ground.

“That was impressive,” is what Jaehwan can finally say out loud, still amused by the move, and he finds himself standing, his drawing supplies scattered around him on the floor.

Basketball Boy flinches in surprise down there and looks up at Jaehwan with a startled expression on his face and Jaehwan stares back at him, mouth agape. The guy suddenly realizes his own shirtlessness and puts on his sweater as fast as he can. Jaehwan can feel some strange warmth creeping up on his face, so he clears his throat.

“I mean, sorry, I’m just–“

“Have you been watching me?” the guy cuts in.

“Um, yeah, I’ve been here all along.”

“Oh.” The boy says and carefully shoves his shirt into his bag like he thinks Jaehwan would tear it out of his hand. “Well, uh, see you later.”

“Yeah.” Jaehwan nods, still a little bit stunned. “See you later.”

The guy takes his bag and the ball and leaves the gym with a flabbergasted Jaehwan in it.


	3. III

When Hongbin receives Hakyeon’s message about the “chill party” at his and Wonshik’s place at the weekend, he doesn’t know that Saturday night will serve with a big surprise.

Hakyeon ordered him to tell his roommates, Taekwoon and Sanghyuk as well, so he does; reaching out to tug at Taekwoon’s sweatpants from his spot on his bed where he’s lying on his back. The older guy looks up from his iPod, giving a questioning look to Hongbin, not even bothering to take his earphones out. Hongbin tosses his phone on Taekwoon’s bed and Taekwoon reads the message, nodding at Hongbin before passing the phone back to him.

Hongbin kicks the bottom of the top half of the bunk bed he shares with Sanghyuk, earning a loud grunt from the other.

“What’s your problem?” Sanghyuk asks, head hanging down from above as he looks at Hongbin.

Hongbin doesn’t reply, only reaches out his arm, giving Sanghyuk his phone and Sanghyuk pulls his head back.

Hongbin is way too tired to speak after having spent more than an hour at the gym that afternoon. It wouldn’t have been much, had he been able to practise during the last few months, but today was the first day he had some free time after his teachers had thrown a bunch of tasks at him.

Hongbin suddenly presses his palms on his face as if he could make the blush stop spreading on his cheeks by covering his eyes. He has no idea how he could be such an idiot as not to look around before starting to play. If only he did, the guy who was watching him wouldn’t have had to witness his embarrassing strip show.

The thought that the guy looked so truly amazed by his slam dunk makes his face flush even more under his fingers. People have told him he’s good, they have praised him for his skills, but no one ever looked at him with eyes open so wide and jaw dropped like the guy in the spectator area did–not even his own parents.  His expression spoke more than his words did, and Hongbin can’t help smiling at the memory.

“Cool, but hyung, when will you stop being so boring?” Sanghyuk asks, making Hongbin almost choke. He got too immersed in his thoughts, and the hand swinging his mobile phone above his head helps him realize that he is, in fact, not alone in the room.

“What are you getting at?” Hongbin grumbles, taking his phone from Sanghyuk.

“You literally only have texts from Hakyeon, Wonshik, your sisters and me.” Sanghyuk says with a loud sigh. “You need a life.”

“Says the guy who does nothing but reads stupid comic books all the time.”

“MAN-GA.” Sanghyuk replies indignantly, his head suddenly appearing on the edge of the top bunk. His brow is furrowed and his nostrils are dilated. “Not comic book. Besides, I’m the one who got drunk with his classmates three times last week, not you.”

Hongbin doesn’t feel like explaining Sanghyuk for the umpteenth time that he just  _can’t_  get drunk so easily, because he’s well aware of the fact that the brat knows. So he just grimaces at him. “Whatever.”

“You need someone to spice up your life.” Sanghyuk says, grinning down at him. “If you know what I mean.”

“I don’t think even you know what you mean!” Hongbin groans and takes his pillow from under his head to throw it at Sanghyuk, but the kid pulls his head back and gravity has its effect on the pillow, forcing it to land on Taekwoon’s lap. Taekwoon looks up from his iPod again and flings the pillow at Hongbin, a sly smirk tugging at his lips when it hits Hongbin right in the face.  

“You guys are horrible.” Hongbin mumbles and rolls on his side to face the wall instead.


	4. IV

By the time Hongbin, Taekwoon and Sanghyuk arrive at Hakyeon and Wonshik’s flat, there are already annoyingly loud and high-pitched laughing noises coming from inside. Sanghyuk scrunches up his nose at a particularly shrill chuckle that all three of them attribute to Hakyeon, but Hongbin rings the doorbell nevertheless.

There’s the sound of feet shuffling on the other side of the door and then Wonshik appears behind it.

“You’re late,” he says.

“Had to stop by a coffee shop,” Hongbin says, kicking his shoes off. “Taekwoon-hyung insisted.”

Taekwoon takes a sip of his latte and shoves the grocery bag full of booze and snacks into Wonshik’s hand.

“Hyung,” Sanghyuk whispers, leaning closer to Wonshik, “who’s that?”

Hongbin stands on his tiptoes and peeks over Wonshik’s shoulder. Hakyeon is sitting on the floor and slaps his own thigh while laughing, crumbles of crackers falling out of his mouth. There’s someone else sitting opposite him: a guy wearing a snapback hat backwards, but that’s all Hongbin can say about him because he’s sitting with his back to the door.

“Oh, hey!” Hakyeon greets them, jumping up from the floor.

He flings an arm around Taekwoon and Hongbin’s shoulders (Taekwoon getting rid of it right away, but Hakyeon is too determined to keep him close to himself, so he throws his arm around Taekwoon’s shoulder again), ushering them further inside. Hongbin can see Sanghyuk let out a relieved sigh because Hakyeon didn’t touch him, but then Hakyeon hurries back to him and pushes him forward.

“I’d like you guys to meet someone,” Hakyeon says and the stranger turns around.

Hongbin suddenly feels like asking Wonshik to beat him up with the grocery bag in his hand.

The guy looking back at him with both of his eyebrows raised and his lips slightly parted makes Hongbin blush. The stranger’s eyes flick down to Hongbin’s stomach for a split second, and then back to his face, and Hongbin’s arms wind around his abdomen protectively.

“Basketball Boy?” the stranger asks.

Hongbin notices a smile tugging at the boy’s lips.

“Wait,” Hakyeon says, holding up a hand. “Do you guys know each other?”

“I’ve seen him naked.” The guy replies with a small shrug.

Before Hongbin could say anything to defend himself or maybe rebuke the boy if he can find the words, Taekwoon spits his coffee on the floor, making Wonshik jump and shriek in a tone that is everything but masculine and Sanghyuk yells at Hongbin while Hakyeon yells at the stranger at the exact same moment: “WHAT?!”

“Did you take my advice?” Sanghyuk grins at Hongbin. “Great!”

“Shut your mouth or I swear to God–” Hongbin hisses, but he can’t finish the sentence, because Hakyeon demands details.

“Okay, I was exaggerating.” The guy stands up from the floor and lets out a sigh. There’s still a playful smirk dancing on his lips and Hongbin wants to make it disappear, preferably with a punch. “He took his shirt off in the gym because he didn’t know I was there.” He steps to Hongbin, wipes the cracker crumbles on his hand into his jeans and reaches it out to Hongbin. “Lee Jaehwan.”

Hongbin lets go of his stomach with his right hand and shakes Jaehwan’s.

“Lee Hongbin.” He replies primly.

“Nice to meet you, Lee Hongbin. If only I knew it was you!”


	5. V

It’s when Sanghyuk is already slurring something about going somewhere instead of just sitting in the living room and Taekwoon’s head falls on Sanghyuk’s left shoulder while Hakyeon and Wonshik are laughing out loud over the makeshift board of the drinking game they are playing that Jaehwan decides to look for Hongbin.

There’s a flash outside of the balcony door, and then Jaehwan notices the street lights reflecting off strands of chocolate brown hair and a pale face. He puts on his coat, takes two beers out of the fridge, opens the bottles, and steps out into the icy December night.

“Mind if I take a seat?”

Hongbin looks up at him frightened, as though he already forgot that there were other people in the flat apart from him.

“Go ahead.”

Jaehwan sits down on the cold stone, adjusting his coat to be under his butt and reaches out one of the beers to Hongbin. Hongbin looks up at Jaehwan with a questioning look, but then takes the beer and puts it down next to him.

“Don’t you like it?” Jaehwan asks.

“It’s just that it’s no use drinking for me.” Hongbin shrugs. “My alcohol tolerance is too high.”

“Oh. Well, we can’t say the same about any of them.” Jaehwan says, turning his head towards the glass on the door.

Hongbin turns around as well, just in time to see Taekwoon shoving a handful of crackers into Sanghyuk’s mouth with his eyes closed while Hakyeon and Wonshik are making their way into the kitchen, holding each other’s hand, wobbling. Hongbin lets out a small laugh and blinks up at Jaehwan. His big eyes crinkle at the corners and his smile draws dimples on his cheeks.

Jaehwan’s heart makes a weird move, but he tries to ignore it.

“Taking pictures?” Jaehwan cocks an eyebrow at the camera in Hongbin’s hands.

“Yeah, kind of…” Hongbin sighs. “The view is beautiful from here, but my camera’s pretty old. All the pictures I take with it come out quite shitty.”

“Can I take a look at them?”

Hongbin glances up at Jaehwan. He seems unsure for a second, but then presses some buttons on the camera, opens the gallery and takes a sip of his beer.

There are some pictures of the city below them, some of the road with blurred stripes of light on it, some of the prettily illuminated building on the other side of the street, and some of the church in the distance.

“I don’t see any problems with these,” Jaehwan says, going through the pictures.

“Too bad you’re not one of my teachers,” Hongbin laughs bitterly, taking a gulp again.

“Oh, right,” Jaehwan nods. “Lee Hongbin, twenty-one years old, second year Photography major.”

“Excuse me?” Hongbin raises his eyebrows at him.

Jaehwan blushes a little, smirking lopsidedly at the camera in his hands.

“Maybe it’s not really a coincidence that both of us are here.”

“What do you mean?” Hongbin asks with an expression that suggests that he might have one or two ideas about what Jaehwan means.

“Hakyeon can be pretty convincing if he wants you to attend a party you otherwise wouldn’t consider going to. But I guess you must know that better than I do.”

Hongbin lets out a deep sigh, closes his eyes and leans back against the door. Jaehwan is still smirking, and his eyes trail down the line of Hongbin’s neck unwillingly.

“Don’t tell me…” Hongbin mutters. “Is he playing the matchmaker again?”

“Does he often do that?” Jaehwan chuckles in a low voice.

Hongbin opens his eyes. It looks like there are stars in them; an entire galaxy, as he looks up at the sky, probably imagining how to strangle Hakyeon later, Jaehwan thinks.

“A lot more often than I’d be comfortable with,” Hongbin says. The corners of his lips curl up into a nostalgic smile. “That’s actually how I got to know Taekwoon too. He’s one of Hakyeon’s failed attempts at finding me… well, a partner. Sometimes Hakyeon proves to be a bad judge of character, because Taekwoon is not really… um… into guys. Plus, he’s not my type at all. I appreciate Hakyeon’s attempts though, and… I’m talking too much. Sorry.”

“Maybe your alcohol tolerance is not that high, after all,” Jaehwan laughs. Hongbin sends him a murderous look, so he clears his throat. “I don’t know Hakyeon that well, because I only met him this semester when he gave us a presentation about MA studies, but… he’s cool. He seems like a good guy who just wants you to be happy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Hongbin nods. “But sometimes it feels like he’s trying to play my mother.”

“Well, if he weren’t so desperate to find you someone, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now, so I guess I’m thankful to him,” Jaehwan says, tittering nervously.

His ears are heating up and he averts his eyes, staring into his mostly empty bottle, trying to remember when he drank all of that beer. He’s feeling light-headed and heavy; brave enough to say whatever comes to his mind out loud, but still able to judge if that whatever is embarrassing. So he pretty much feels like jumping off the balcony at the moment.

“Yeah,” Hongbin mumbles on his left, “yeah, I… I guess I’m thankful too.”


	6. VI

The top bunk creaks loudly in the darkness. There’s some stirring going on up there, and then a mysterious whispering reaches Hongbin’s ears: “Hongbin and Jaehwan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

 

Hongbin groans, but doesn’t reply. He drags his blanket over his head.

 

“First comes love, then comes marriage,” the voice singsongs above him. “Then comes baby… wait.”

 

Hongbin pulls the blanket off his head angrily.

 

“Do you want me to wake Taekwoon and tell him that you puked into his favourite shoes?!” He grumbles half-loudly.

 

“I saw you guys making out,” Sanghyuk whispers.

 

“What the fuck, we didn’t even make out!”

 

“Oh, right, that was Hakyeon and Wonshik, sorry,” Sanghyuk says and scoots lower. His hair is tousled and sticks out in every direction as he looks at Hongbin upside down. “But you did want to make out with him, didn’t you?”

 

“You’re such a pain in the ass.”

 

“I could make a very good joke out of that involving you and Jaehwan, but I really puked into Taekwoon’s shoes.”

 

“Just go to sleep already!”

 

“All right,” Sanghyuk says and even if Hongbin couldn’t see his smile in the dim light that filters through the curtains, he would be one hundred percent sure that he’s grinning. “Nighty-night, loverboy. Don’t forget to turn off your camera after you’re done looking at the pictures you took of Jaehwan.”

 

Hongbin kicks the bottom of Sanghyuk’s bed while the brat snickers and finally disappears from Hongbin’s sight.

 

To tell the truth, Hongbin wouldn’t be as angry with Sanghyuk as he actually is, if the kid wasn’t right. He turns around to face the wall with his camera between his hands, gallery open and Jaehwan smiling at him from the screen.

 

It’s not that he _wanted_ to take those pictures but that he _had_ to, because he has to hand in a compilation of portraits on Monday’s Presentation and Exhibition lesson, and well, Jaehwan was sitting next to him, smiling, with the lights illuminating his face just right and Hongbin didn’t want to miss the chance to be able to put one more portrait into the collection he has made from his friends’ pictures. Jaehwan has pretty eyes, a weirdly cute, prominent nose and the most beautiful lopsided grin Hongbin has ever seen.

 

And it’s strange, because Jaehwan is not exactly the model type, but Hongbin wants to take a thousand more pictures of him.

 

He tries to ignore the strain in his chest and the warmth in his cheeks as he bites his lower lip. He turns off his camera and puts it on his desk, snuggling into his blanket and setting the alarm on his phone to 7 am.

 

It may or may not be accidental that he opens the contacts and stares at Jaehwan’s name until he falls asleep.

 


	7. VII

“Hey, do you want to have lunch with us?” Hakyeon asks, poking Jaehwan’s side while he’s walking on the corridor.

“I, uh, actually have some homework to do before my next class.”

“Hongbin’s coming too.” Hakyeon smirks.

Jaehwan snorts.

“And why do you think that makes lunch with you more alluring?”

“Oh, come on,” Hakyeon rolls his eyes. “You guys seemed to get along very well on Saturday.”

“You couldn’t even see anything,” Jaehwan replies, not even noticing that Hakyeon has already led them to the staircase leading to the cafeteria. “You were wasted.”

“You shouldn’t underestimate my abilities.”

“Abilities to what? Make Hongbin feel embarrassed?”

“Make both of you feel embarrassed! At the same time!”

“Has anybody ever told you that being manipulative is not a virtue?” Jaehwan asks, suddenly realizing that they arrived at the cafeteria.  He can’t oppose now, and maybe doesn’t even want to, so he walks to the counter with Hakyeon.

“I think I’ve already heard that somewhere,” Hakyeon says, choosing a sandwich and paying for it. “But some people are stupid enough not to realize what’s good for them. And by stupid people I mean you and Hongbin.”

“Yeah, I figured that.”

After Jaehwan buys a sandwich for himself, they sit down at a free table. As soon as Jaehwan unwraps his lunch, Hakyeon starts waving his hand in the air. Jaehwan looks up and notices Wonshik and Hongbin walking between the tables towards them. Hongbin doesn’t seem to have noticed them, because he’s too busy talking to Wonshik, but Wonshik tries to hide his obvious smirk from him and that’s enough indication for Jaehwan to assume that he can see Hakyeon.

Jaehwan lets out a sigh unwittingly while watching Hongbin’s small waist and tiny legs as him and Wonshik make their way towards them. Hongbin bumps into a chair and finally looks up, stopping when his eyes meet Jaehwan’s. Jaehwan’s ears turn red and Hongbin averts his eyes, but then Wonshik turns around, telling him something to which Hongbin nods and continues on his way to the table.

“Long time no see,” Hakyeon grins at his not-boyfriend boyfriend and Hongbin.

“What’s up?” Wonshik asks, taking a seat next to Hakyeon.

Hakyeon starts blabbing about something, but Jaehwan is too preoccupied with watching a blushing Hongbin sit down next to him.

“Hey,” Hongbin mumbles, avoiding Jaehwan’s eyes.

“Hey,” Jaehwan mumbles back.

“Oh, I forgot!” Hakyeon exclaims, making Jaehwan all but jump up from his seat in surprise. “I promised Wonshik that I’d help him do his homework before his next class!”

Wonshik looks at Hakyeon like he’s gone mad and opens his mouth to say something, but Hakyeon elbows into his side very evidently.

“We have to go now.”

“Really?” Wonshik asks.

“Really,” Hakyeon replies, looking into Wonshik’s eyes with a piercing gaze.

Hakyeon, albeit having a smaller figure than Wonshik, easily pulls his boyfriend up from the chair, pushing his sandwich into his hands.

“Are you kidding me?” Wonshik grumbles, leaning closer to Hakyeon.

“No, I’m not, you’re going to fail Graphics if I don’t help you with this!”

Wonshik rolls his eyes, but lets Hakyeon usher him away from the table. Hakyeon bids Hongbin and Jaehwan goodbye, but before they could get into considerable distance from them, Jaehwan hears Wonshik say: “If I’m ever breaking up with you, that’ll be because you’re weird as fuck.”

“Shush!” Hakyeon replies and they hurry out of the cafeteria.

“Smooth,” Jaehwan says, watching them leave.

“That’s Hakyeon’s middle name,” Hongbin answers, taking a bite of the pastry he purchased earlier.

They sit in silence for a good five minutes, chewing on their lunches.

Awkward.

“Would you–“

“I have–“

They look at each other surprised for a few seconds, but then Hongbin smiles sheepishly. Jaehwan feels like he’s being pulled on strings, as though he had to reflect everything Hongbin does, so he smiles as well.

“You first,” Hongbin says.

“No, you first!” Jaehwan replies, voice shaky. “Please.”

“Um. So I have to tell you something. You know that I wanted to put one of the pictures I took of you into my portfolio for one of my classes, right?”

“Yeah, you told me you would.”

“Yeah, so I got an A on it.”

“Did you?” Jaehwan asks, raising his eyebrows, smiling. “Congrats!”

“Thanks,” Hongbin smiles back, his dimples visible and it makes Jaehwan feel hot. “It’s actually thanks to you. My teacher loved that picture of you and he’d like to put it on the third floor wall where the best photos are exhibited. If… it’s okay with you, of course.”

“Sure!” Jaehwan grins. “Everyone should see my cute face all the time!”

Hongbin furrows his brow and a small puff of air escapes his mouth as he laughs.

“Yeah,” he mutters. Jaehwan can’t not notice the pink flush on his cheeks. “Cute.”

Jaehwan takes a bite of his sandwich to hide his embarrassment.

“What did you want to say?” Hongbin asks.

“Oh, that!” Jaehwan says and accidentally spits on the table. Hongbin clearly saw it, but doesn’t say anything about it. Jaehwan wants to disappear nevertheless. He chews the bite in his mouth and swallows it while staring at the table with blood red ears as he says: “Uh, I was… I was wondering if you, maybe, if you feel like it… so, I was wondering if you’d like to have a coffee with me? Sometime? Anytime you want?”

Jaehwan can see from the corner of his eye that Hongbin takes a deep breath and starts blinking faster than he normally would. Jaehwan’s heart is in his throat and the few bites of his sandwich he ate suddenly want to escape, but then Hongbin says: “That’d be great.”


	8. VIII

Hongbin stares at his wardrobe, standing in front of it, wearing only a towel around his waist. He is absolutely lost, because he has no idea what he should wear for a… date? He considers calling Hakyeon to ask for advice, but he would never want Hakyeon to know that his plan is going well.

“Holy shit, man! Could you please put something on?”

“I’m on it, okay?” Hongbin grumbles, sending a murderous look to Sanghyuk who is turning his back at him.

Hongbin puts on his underwear and the T-shirt he uses as a pyjama and stands in front of the closet just as indecisively as before.

“Why are you staring at your clothes like that?” Sanghyuk asks, leaning in to inspect the inside of Hongbin’s closet now.

“Because they’re shit and I have nothing to wear,” Hongbin mumbles gloomily.

“Ah, so you’re going on a date with Jaehwan.”

“Just how the hell did you know?” Hongbin grimaces.

A  _very_  smug grin spreads on Sanghyuk’s face. He elbows on Hongbin’s shoulder, looking too confident and Hongbin hates how he towers over him.

“Listen, my sister complains enough about how she ‘has nothing to wear’ when she wants to look good for a guy,” he says. “Plus, you’ve never cared about your clothing style before, but ever since Jaehwan has been around, you keep looking all tidy and neat. And you probably bathed in your cologne because the scent is so strong that this is how I imagine wild animals using their smell during the mating season. You’re pretty easy to read.”

Hongbin makes a guttural sound and pushes Sanghyuk away.

“Know-it-all,” he grouches.

“Okay, step aside,” Sanghyuk says and shoves Hongbin to the side to go through his clothes. He soon pulls out a black sweater and a pair of jeans. “Here.”

“Aren’t these too plain?” Hongbin asks, holding the clothes in his hands.

“I’m not exactly sure if you should show up wearing a tuxedo on the first date,” Sanghyuk replies, leaning against the closet. “Let’s save that for later, when he’s already too deep into you.”

“I have no idea when you became this snarky, but you’re getting on my nerves.”

“You’re welcome.” Sanghyuk grins.


	9. IX

Jaehwan has never been in such a hurry as he is right now.

He arrives at the café heaving from running all the way there from the bus stop and he stops for a minute before going in. He can see Hongbin sitting in one of the booths with his back to the door, but he also knows that he’s sweating. He stomps his feet, scaring a woman and her small child as they are passing by, so he bows in apology and starts fanning himself with his drawing board.

And suddenly he wants a vortex to open under him and swallow him whole.

Hongbin is staring at him from inside the café with a questioning but nevertheless amused look on his face. There’s an unsure smile ghosting around his lips and Jaehwan can finally be sure that he is probably the biggest idiot on planet Earth.

He sends an embarrassed grin to Hongbin before hiding his face behind his drawing board. His cheeks are burning up and his whole body is shaking, but he takes a deep breath and peeks. Hongbin is now smiling even more widely, snow white teeth showing and dimples dipping deeply into his cheeks. Jaehwan’s heart beats so fast he thinks it’ll escape through his mouth.

“Hey.” Jaehwan squeaks when he finally enters the café and sits down opposite Hongbin. “Um… I just… I was late, so I had to run and, um…”

“It’s okay,” Hongbin grins. “It was funny. Whatever that was you were doing.”

“Excuse you, I was fanning myself,” Jaehwan says with a smirk, trying to hide his uneasiness.

“Oh, sorry,” Hongbin chuckles.

Lee Jaehwan has to admit that he is a horrible listener.

There is a possibility that he’s only a horrible listener when he has to listen to Hongbin. It’s not because he’s not interested in the small talk they are maintaining or that he doesn’t want to remember every single detail Hongbin tells him about himself, but there are some  _very_  distracting things on/in/around Hongbin.

First of all, Hongbin smells like he walked into a cosmetics store and poured every bottle of cologne in the men’s department over his head. The scent is very nice and very strong, but apart from it making Jaehwan feel light-headed, it also urges him to smile like an idiot, because Hongbin smells like that for him and him only. Probably. He hopes so.

Secondly, Hongbin looks just as nervous as Jaehwan feels like. His shaky laughs, fluttering eyelashes, small, trembling fingers and quivering lower lip are evidence enough that he is jittery as well. And that makes Jaehwan’s heart speed up, because he doesn’t think he has ever seen anybody as cute as Hongbin.

Thirdly, Hongbin is beautiful. His face is perfect; flawless with all its curves and edges, with his dimples, pink lips, graceful nose, small moles and big, starry eyes. Even the tiny pimple on his forehead is adorable.

And finally, Hongbin’s voice is the most calming Jaehwan has ever heard. It’s deep and smooth; it vibrates through every cell of his body and dances on every one of his nerves, caressing his ears. For a moment, Jaehwan imagines how it would feel like to fall asleep to Hongbin humming a lullaby for him, and at this point he almost chokes on his gingerbread latte.

“Hongbin,” Jaehwan says suddenly, causing Hongbin to stop mid-sentence. “Can I draw you?”

“Uh, yeah?” Hongbin replies uncertainly, taking a sip of his cappuccino. “Is it a class project?”

“No. I’d just like to draw you.”


	10. X

More than two hours and a lot of nervous laughing fits later Hongbin opens the door to the dorm room he shares with Taekwoon and Sanghyuk. Both of them are in there; Sanghyuk tapping on his laptop’s keyboard and Taekwoon hunching over a book with his earphones plugged in, doing something that remotely resembles studying.

 

“Well, aren’t you back early!” Sanghyuk says, peeking from behind his laptop. “I was expecting a ‘don’t wait for me, I’m not going home tonight’ text or something.”

 

“Some people take their time when it comes to dating, Sanghyuk,” a soft voice comes from the direction of Taekwoon’s bed. Hongbin nods in agreement. “Maybe if you tried that, we wouldn’t have to face so many hysterical girls screaming at us to tell them where you are.”

 

Sanghyuk blinks five times in a row with his jaw dropped.

 

“Hyung, did you just…?” he stammers. “Did he just…? How much exactly do you hear over that music you’re listening to all the time?”

 

“Pretty much everything you guys talk about,” Taekwoon replies and highlights a sentence in his book.

 

“Shit.” Sanghyuk mumbles. He puts his laptop aside and sits on the edge of his bed, legs dangling down as he watches Hongbin take off the top layer of his clothes. “Anyways, how was it?”

 

“Nice,” Hongbin answers and turns around as fast as he can to hide the wide smile creeping up on his face.

 

Sanghyuk sighs.

 

“I can’t believe you’re so head over heels for him.”

 

“Shut up, I’m not even–“ Hongbin starts, but then his phone beeps in his pocket.

 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to put up with all this gross love stuff.” Sanghyuk says and returns to his laptop.

 

Hongbin doesn’t want to retort, only sits down on his bed, leaning against the wall and reads Jaehwan’s text.

 

** I fixed some things on the drawing while waiting for my bus! What do you think about it? ^^ **

 

Hongbin opens the image and looks at all the details Jaehwan so perfectly put on paper. It feels weird for Hongbin to look at himself in a drawn version, but then he notices his smile in the picture and the way his eyes seem alive and lit up, and he finally starts to understand what Sanghyuk finds so annoying about his expression when he thinks about Jaehwan. He looks like a grinning idiot.

 

** It looks amazing, I’ve honestly never seen such a wonderful drawing. I mean… am I even allowed to talk about a picture of me like this? haha **

 

** You’d be a fool if you didn’t notice that I had the most handsome model ever :D **

 

Hongbin laughs way too loudly at the reply, cringing a little, because it’s so damn cheesy it makes his eyes tear up in embarrassment. It’s a good kind of embarrassment, though; something that tickles his stomach from the inside. He thinks about Jaehwan and how he must be clutching his phone nervously right now.

 

Then, Hongbin thinks about how right, how perfect it felt to have Jaehwan’s long, soft and warm fingers laced together with his on the way to the dorm, and his laugh subsides to a small, content smile.

 

** I don’t think I’m the only fool around here~ **

 


	11. XI

Jaehwan finds it strangely hilarious that he had to make avoiding Hakyeon his new hobby.

 

It’s probably the hardest thing he has ever had to do, because Hakyeon seems to be everywhere.

 

Hakyeon knows everything, and what’s more annoying about him is that he wants to know more. Ever since he found out about Jaehwan and Hongbin’s coffee date the other day, he has been nagging both of them to tell him about the progress.

 

“Just answer this: did you kiss?”

 

Jaehwan lets out a sigh while twirling his pen between his fingers. They’re sitting in the back row of the small auditorium where Jaehwan’s Fine Arts lecture is being held. He has absolutely no idea how Hakyeon knew he would be there and why Hakyeon _is_ there, for that matter, because he has nothing to do with fine arts.

 

“Why are you so nosey?” Jaehwan whispers back.

 

“I’m literally the only reason why you guys met. I need to know.”

 

“Well, you won’t.”

 

Jaehwan smirks at Hakyeon, shoves his notebook and pencil case into his backpack and leaves the auditorium.

 

When Jaehwan and Hongbin sit in the library, noses buried into different books without actually concentrating on their contents and stealing glances at each other instead, grinning stupidly while holding each other’s hand under the table, Jaehwan thinks he finally got rid of Hakyeon for the day. He leans over Hongbin’s book curiously, looking at the pictures and reading the captions.

 

“What does this mean?” he asks, pointing at a technical term he has never heard before.

 

“It’s–“ Hongbin starts, but then he suddenly falls silent when Jaehwan looks up at him.

 

Their faces are too close, noses almost touching and Hongbin’s eyes trail down the shape of Jaehwan’s lips. Jaehwan tightens his grip around Hongbin’s hand, leaning in a little bit more when he sees Hongbin closing his eyes.

 

“Okay!”

 

Hongbin jumps in surprise at the loud and angry whisper, head-butting Jaehwan. They release each other’s hand as if they were holding hot metal as soon as they look up at a very upset Sanghyuk sitting down opposite them.

 

“If you guys don’t tell Hakyeon everything right now, he’ll be dead by tomorrow and Taekwoon and I will rot in jail for the rest of our lives.”

 

“Just don’t pay attention to him,” Jaehwan says.

 

“I can’t not pay attention to him when he follows me around and stands next to me in the toilet when I’m minding my business!” Sanghyuk replies, slamming his hands on the table. “You don’t know how it feels like to have him smile at you so… sweetly while you’re trying to pee, it’s creepy! I had to stand there for like five minutes until I could finally produce something and he was interrogating me in the meantime!”

 

“Well, I don’t know,” Hongbin shrugs. “It was scary enough when I found a note in the sandwich I bought in the cafeteria saying ‘Send me a detailed explanation about how you and Jaehwan are doing!’ with a heart next to it.”

 

“He came to my Fine Arts lecture this morning,” Jaehwan adds. “Skipped his own class for it.”

 

“Do you have any idea how he got into our room? Because he was bending over me while I was sleeping until I woke up and started questioning me.”

 

“Jesus Christ, hyung.” Sanghyuk huffs at Taekwoon who is sipping his coffee, standing next to the table. “Could you stop sneaking around? This is exactly what Hakyeon does.”

 

Taekwoon doesn’t reply, only glares at Sanghyuk like he is plotting his murder.

 

Loud notification sounds draw the librarian’s attention to the boys when all of their phones start beeping and vibrating simultaneously.

 

“All of you should come over to study at ours this afternoon,” Jaehwan reads Hakyeon’s message out loud. “Does five pm sound okay?”

 

Sanghyuk groans and flops down on the table.

 


	12. XII

Hongbin lets out an exasperated sigh when he catches Hakyeon staring at him again.

“Hyung, this is getting ridiculous.”

“Hm?” Hakyeon asks, acting like he doesn’t know what’s going on. “Sorry, did you say something?”

“Ah, you’re so annoying!” Hongbin exclaims tiredly.

He pushes Jaehwan further to the side on the couch they are occupying, making Jaehwan raise his eyebrows at him, and lies down, pillowing his head on Jaehwan’s right thigh. He reaches up and puts one of his earphones that fell out when he was positioning himself back into Jaehwan’s ear and adjusts the other one in his own. Jaehwan stirs a little under him and Hongbin looks up at him to see if he’s uncomfortable, but Jaehwan sends him a sheepish smile, curling a strand of Hongbin’s bangs around his index finger and sweeping it out of Hongbin’s eyes.

“All of you are annoying,” Wonshik grumbles and turns to the next page in his notebook.

“What even is the point in this whole meeting?” Sanghyuk asks, throwing his pen away. “Look at them, they probably kissed already, if not more.”

Hongbin blushes and decides to pay more attention to the notes in his hands.

“You should just spit it out, because I’m on the verge of moving out of here,” Wonshik says and then turns to Taekwoon: “The top bunk on your bed is free, isn’t it?”

“No one would be able to endure your snoring except me,” Hakyeon grumbles.

“Right!” Jaehwan says, jerking up so suddenly Hongbin’s head bounces off his thigh and right back on it. “You want to know everything about us, yet you keep hiding that you two are dating.”

“Can I go back to the dorm?” Taekwoon groans.

“Okay, we’re dating,” Hakyeon rolls his eyes, ignoring Taekwoon’s complaint. “Happy?”

“No,” Hongbin replies, laying his notes on his lap. “Why did you keep it a secret from us?”

“Because Wonshik isn’t sure if he can maintain a long-term relationship.”

“Oh.” Hongbin replies smartly.

Wonshik is visibly embarrassed, at least, the way he is holding up his notebook to cover his face suggests that.

“Can we change the topic?” Taekwoon sighs.

“I’ll bring something to eat.” Hongbin says, mostly to cheer Hakyeon and Wonshik up. They both look ill-at-ease and Hongbin knows that it’s his fault.

He stands up and shuffles into the kitchen to look for something edible in Hakyeon and Wonshik’s fridge. While he’s rummaging through the different food boxes, an arm suddenly winds around his waist. Hongbin straightens his back, turns around and looks at a kindly smiling Jaehwan questioningly.

“You’re feeling guilty, aren’t you?” Jaehwan asks.

“Yeah,” Hongbin nods. “I mean, I had no idea this was such a sensitive topic. They never seemed to  _seriously_  deny that they were together, they just didn’t speak it out, so I thought they didn’t think it was important to state it openly. If only I’d known it’d be so awkward, I wouldn’t have asked them why.”

“I don’t think you should worry about them,” Jaehwan says, grinning.

“What do you mean?”

Jaehwan pulls Hongbin towards the doorway and both of them peek into the living room. Wonshik is lying on his back on the floor with his notebook on his face and Hakyeon is poking his sides and nagging him that he has to take studying seriously. Wonshik fakes snoring and Hakyeon takes the notebook off him, making Wonshik grin with his eyes closed. Hakyeon chuckles and bends over him to peck his lips. All the while Taekwoon and Sanghyuk are sending each other disgusted looks.

Hongbin laughs at the little scene and relaxes into Jaehwan’s arms around him. He feels Jaehwan’s cheek pressing against his own as Jaehwan puts his chin on Hongbin’s shoulder.

“We should try it,” he says quietly.

“Try what?”

“Kissing.”

Hongbin laughs nervously, turning around in Jaehwan’s arms. Jaehwan’s elf ears are getting redder and redder, but Hongbin can feel the heat building up in his cheeks as well. He takes a deep breath.

Jaehwan leans in and presses his soft, plump lips against Hongbin’s chapped ones and it feels like Hongbin just reached the end of a rainbow.

He feels warmth spreading out in his chest; his brain feels like a bottle of fizzy champagne and every single square millimetre of his skin tingles as he kisses back.

Jaehwan’s left hand cautiously settles on his right hip while he tilts his head to be able to gain more access to Hongbin’s mouth, but then Hongbin feels Jaehwan’s nose poking his left cheek and he can’t help bursting out in a boisterous laughter, because the gentle nudges and Jaehwan’s hot breath on his face are tickling. Jaehwan stays still for a second, even when Hongbin has already broken the kiss with his wide grin and the laughter bubbling up from his throat; but then Jaehwan pulls back, eyes open wide and mouth slightly agape, a bright pink flush clearly visible across his cheeks. He has no idea what’s going on, but he can feel his ears burning up and Hongbin’s giggling fit is not helping at all.

“I-I’m sorry,” Hongbin manages to utter out between two chuckles. “I’m sorry but…”

He doesn’t finish his sentence but cups Jaehwan’s face with both hands and looks at him. It seems like he’s examining all of Jaehwan’s features with his glinting eyes from behind the little crescent shaped eyelids and crinkling corners. Hongbin’s grin doesn’t fade the slightest bit as he leans up and presses small pecks first on the bridge and then on the tip of Jaehwan’s nose and says: “You have such an adorable nose.”

And Hongbin looks so incredibly cute as he stares at Jaehwan’s nose with his teeth showing, dimples drawn onto his cheeks by his lips curling upwards, that Jaehwan feels the urge to flash a lopsided smirk at him. He leans in again and nuzzles behind Hongbin’s ear, nose prodding at the junction of his neck and jaw after that, and dipping into his skin that smells sweeter than any scent Jaehwan has ever come across. He does this half-playfully, half-seriously; happy that he can find an excuse to hide his embarrassment, smiling into Hongbin’s shoulder.

“Do you think so?” Jaehwan mumbles into Hongbin’s sweater.

“Yeah.”

Jaehwan can feel Hongbin nodding and his chuckles vibrating in his chest as Hongbin wraps his arms around Jaehwan’s shoulders, one of his hands finding its way into his hair and his small fingers combing through it, holding Jaehwan as close to himself as he can.

So Jaehwan hugs back.

“Fucking finally,” Wonshik’s relieved voice comes from behind Hongbin’s back.

Jaehwan and Hongbin separate at the speed of sound, standing awkwardly side by side. Both of them are blushing like mad and Hongbin can feel a drop of sweat growing on his temple.

“I so knew you guys were meant to be!” Hakyeon beams at them.

“Didn’t you say the same about Hongbin and Taekwoon as well?” Sanghyuk asks sarcastically.

“Shut up,” Hakyeon hisses and continues staring at Jaehwan and Hongbin with his fingers laced together in front of his chest. “You two are a match made in heaven.”

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to talk to me about any of my stories or just vixx in general on [tumblr](http://hongbab.tumblr.com/), [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/hongbab) or [aff](http://www.asianfanfics.com/profile/view/1061753) ♡ please support me on [ko-fi.com](https://ko-fi.com/hongbab) if you can ♡


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